Saturday, September 22, 2007

Let's Ditch Mitch and bring ourt troops home from this Asian War.

Let's Ditch Mitch and bring our troops home from this Asian War.Fiscal Insanity by georgia10 Sat Sep 22, 2007 at 03:48:18 PM PDTPresident Bush, on his handling of the U.S. economy:

"You need to talk to economists [about a possible recession]. I think I got a B in Econ 101. I got an A, however, in keeping taxes low, and being fiscally responsible with the people's money."

First, it was a "C-", not a "B." But grade inflation aside, the President's claims of fiscal responsibility are shattered by this reality:

CHICAGO, Sept. 21 -- The money spent on one day of the Iraq war could buy homes for almost 6,500 families or health care for 423,529 children, or could outfit 1.27 million homes with renewable electricity, according to the American Friends Service Committee, which displayed those statistics on large banners in cities nationwide Thursday and Friday.

The war is costing $720 million a day or $500,000 a minute, according to the group's analysis of the work of Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph E. Stiglitz and Harvard public finance lecturer Linda J. Bilmes.

The estimates made by the group, which opposes the conflict, include not only the immediate costs of war but also ongoing factors such as long-term health care for veterans, interest on debt and replacement of military hardware.

"The wounded are coming home, and many of them have severe brain and spinal injuries, which will require round-the-clock care for the rest of their lives," said Michael McConnell, Great Lakes regional director of the AFSC, a peace group affiliated with the Quaker church.

The $720 million figure breaks down into $280 million a day from Iraq war supplementary funding bills passed by Congress, plus $440 million daily in incurred, but unpaid, long-term costs.

The Iraq War, according to current Republican policy, is essentially a permanent war. With no exit plan, no clear mission, and no clear and attainable objective for our presence in that nation, the war will continue to drain billions from the U.S. economy annually. But what else to expect from the Republican party. Trillions are pocket change when you're dead set on pursing the ultimate and unattainable goal of validating the policy of pre-emption. And the thousands of dead and tens of thousands of wounded? As the Republican Minority Leader plainly stated, those are just a "small price."

The cost of war? There is no "cost" large enough or irrational enough or horrific enough, in trillions and in lives, that will force these morally bankrupt Republicans to bring the troops home.

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